Virginia uses balanced scoring in first-round victory

First of all, my sincere apologies for the lack of updates. We've had major Internet issues at the Greensboro Coliseum. They should be solved now, so expect many updates between now and tip-off noon Friday against Duke.

To begin, Virginia's 68-62 victory over Boston College included five Cavaliers score in double figures. That's just the third time this season it's occurred. The main reason?

Without Sylven Landesberg, the ball moved around more than usual because there was no focal point of the offense.

“Whoever’s open,” guard Mustapha Farrakhan said of the newfound approach, “we’ll get the ball to them.”

It helped that Sammy Zeglinski (21 points) and Jeff Jones (14 points) combined to hit 8 of 15 three-pointers, but there was also an inside-outside component (forwards Mike Scott and Jerome Meyinsse scored 23 combined points) that led to balanced scoring. Farrakhan added 10 points in his slashing role.

"When you lose your best player, your best scorer, it's not going to all the sudden" come together, Zeglinski said. "To have five guys in double figures today, you just feel like a team. It helps."

This is not a knock on Landesberg as much as it is a testimony to the other players who were always billed as bit parts. Without the security of knowing Landesberg is in the lineup, they took more of an initiative.

"With Sylven, it's great out there because he's slashing, scoring points," Jones said. "But it was great today. Guys balanced, scoring evenly. I think that's what we need. Everybody needs to give 100 percent out there -- not just one."